How Sex Has Changed Over The Past 10 Years

Times have changed in the past 10 years, wouldn’t you agree? In 2005, Myspace was poppin’, Kanye was singing about a Gold Digger, and people who signed up for online dating sites, like eHarmony, did so with shame in their hearts.

Along with the change in stance regarding online dating, our attitude about sex has evolved too, and OkCupid just released some valuable information in a post titled A Digital Decade: Sex, which reveals just how differently we feel about hooking up in 2016 than we did a decade ago, based on a survey of over 1 million people. Below, we highlight some of the most important takeaways from their deep-dive.

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Sex on the first date? No thanks. For starters, we’re apparently 19% less likely to have sex with someone on the first date now than in 2006. Kind of surprising, huh? While 69% of people would have said “Hell yeah” to hooking up on the first date way back when, 50% of us today would rather say goodbye at the door. But as a rule of thumb, the 3-date rule before sleeping with someone new still stands.

Sex before marriage, or no deal.As time goes on, people are obviously realizing that they can’t get married unless they know for sure the sex is bomb. According to OkCupid, “As people become more selective about who they date, sex becomes more important,” which is why 76% of people said they’d need to test out the waters before they can even consider getting hitched, while it was down at 65% ten years ago.

Dating just for sex is not as common anymore.You know when you go on a date with someone, and you only tolerate them because you know you’re going to have sex? Yeah, 49% of people surveyed in 2005 said they’d do that, whereas that number dipped to 41% in 2015. While this goes for both genders, men are (and have been) about twice as likely as women to date just because they're horny.

There’s no such thing as too many sex partners in 2016.Well, there is, but people don’t care as much anymore. 70% of people in 2005, versus 52% in 2015 thought there could be too much of a good thing. The numbers are down 18%, so good news for those who went through a slut phase, or just love sleeping around.

Fuck buddies are 11% more popular now than in 2010. In 2010, 50% of people said they’d “consider having a friendship based primarily on sex, with no intentions for love, romance, or long-term commitment,” or basically, a friends-with-benefits situation. Just 5 years later, that number jumped to 61%, meaning that no strings attached relationships are a tried and true alternative to a romantic one.

All in all, love reigns over sex regardless of the year.In answer to the question, “Regardless of future plans, what's more interesting to you right now?” 75% of people from both 2005 and 2015 said they want to find true love. Aww. But let’s not forget about the perpetual bachelors who make up the remaining 25% that said they are, and always will be, only interested in finding a good lay.